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Alienware M17 R4 vs. Surface Go 3: Full specs comparison

The following is a comprehensive comparison of the Alienware M17 R4 and Surface Go 3 specifications, including details on CPU, memory, storage, battery life, display quality, and other features.

Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Alienware M17 R4 See at Amazon See at Dell	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Go 3 See at Amazon

Alienware M17 R4 Pros

Reasons that Alienware M17 R4 is better than Surface Go 3.

Intel Core i9-10980HK inside Alienware M17 R4 has a 346% better multi-core CPU performance score than the Intel Core i3-10100Y inside Surface Go 3.

Geekbench 5 multi-core score

Alienware M17 R4 - Intel Core i9-10980HK

7,013

Alienware M17 R4 - Intel Core i7-10870H

6,596

Surface Go 3 - Intel Core i3-10100Y

1,570

Surface Go 3 - Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y

1,510

Alienware M17 R4 supports a larger memory capacity than the Surface Go 3. It supports up to 32GB versus 8GB of system memory on the Surface Go 3.

Max system memory size

Alienware M17 R4

32 GB

Surface Go 3

8 GB

Alienware M17 R4 supports a faster memory speed than the Surface Go 3. It supports up to 2933MHz versus 1866MHz of system memory on the Surface Go 3.

Memory type and speed

Alienware M17 R4 - DDR4

2,933 MHz

Surface Go 3 - LPDDR3

1,866 MHz

Configurable up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 8GB GDDR6 vs. integrated

Alienware M17 R4 comes with two M.2 slots that you can easily upgrade and install an additional SSD to expand the storage on the device.

Slots	Alienware M17 R4	Surface Go 3
M.2	Yes x2	Onboard

Alienware M17 R4 has a 17.3-inch screen size 64% larger than the 10.5-inch Surface Go 3.

Display size

Alienware M17 R4

17.3-inch

Surface Go 3

10.5-inch

Surface Go 3 Pros

Reasons that Surface Go 3 is better than Alienware M17 R4.

Surface Go 3 weighed 1.2 pounds, 79% lighter than the 5.51 pounds Alienware M17 R4.

Weight	Alienware M17 R4	Surface Go 3
Pound	5.51 lbs.	1.2 lbs.
Kilogram	2.50 kg	0.54 kg

Prices

Here are the latest price updates and offers for both devices.

Alienware M17 R4 Price
	Alienware m17 R4, 17.3 inch FHD (Full HD) Gaming Laptop - Intel Core i7-10870H, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6, Windows 10 Home - Lunar Light By Alienware $2,399.00	See at Amazon
	Dell Alienware m17 R4 Gaming Laptop (2021) \| 17.3" FHD \| Core i7-2TB SSD - 16GB RAM - RTX 3070 \| 8 Cores @ 5 GHz - 10th Gen CPU - 8GB GDDR6 Win 10 Pro (Renewed) By Dell $1,658.99	See at Amazon
	Alienware m15 R4 RTX 3070 Gaming Laptop Full HD (FHD), 15.6 inch - Intel Core i7-10870H, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB GDDR6, Windows 10 Home - Lunar Light By Dell $1,740.00	See at Amazon
Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5” Price
	Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i3 - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Device Only - Platinum (Latest Model) By Microsoft $510.25 $629.99 19% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i3 - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Device Only - Black (Latest Model) By Microsoft $540.00 $629.99 14% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Pentium® Gold - 4GB Memory - 64GB eMMC - Device Only - Platinum (Latest Model) By Microsoft $379.22 $399.99 5% OFF	See at Amazon

Availability	Alienware M17 R4	Surface Go 3
Released	2021	2021
Release Date	Announced on January 12, 2021 (CES 2021) Available on January 26, 2021	Introduced: September 22, 2021 Pre-ordered: September 22, 2021 Released: October 5, 2021
Pricing	Starting at $2,149.99	$399 Gold 6500Y 4 GB 64 GB WiFi $549 Gold 6500Y 8 GB 128 GB WiFi $629 i3-10100Y 8 GB 128 GB WiFi
Generations	2022 Alienware M17 R5 2021 Alienware M17 R4 2020 Alienware M17 R3 2019 Alienware M17 R2 2019 Alienware M17 R1	2021 Surface Go 3 2020 Surface Go 2 2018 Surface Go 2015 Surface 3 2013 Surface 2 2012 Surface RT

Exterior	Alienware M17 R4	Surface Go 3
Dimensions	15.74” x 11.585” x 0.6618 - 0.87 - 0.8154” (399.8 mm x 294.26 mm x 16.9 - 22 - 20.71 mm)	9.65” x 6.9” x 0.33” (245 mm x 175 mm x 8.3 mm) Width: 9.65” (245 mm) Height: 6.9” (175 mm) Thickness: 0.33” (8.3 mm)
Weight	Starting at 5.51 lbs (2.50 kg) up to 6.55 lbs (2.97 kg)	Surface Go 3: 1.2 lbs (544 g) Surface Go 3 Keyboard: 0.55 lbs (249 g)
Colors	Dark Side of the Moon with High Endurance Clear Coat Lunar Light with High Endurance Clear Coat	Platinum
Keyboard and Trackpad	Keyboard Alienware mSeries 4-Zone AlienFX RGB keyboard. Alienware mSeries keyboard with per-key RGB LED. AlienFX lighting Includes anti-ghosting and N-key rollover technology 1.7mm key travel 0.2mm-dish concave key design 4.13 x 2.36 in (105 mm x 80 mm) precision touchpad with multi-touch gesture support.	Surface Go Type Cover Not included Keyboard: Full-size mechanical backlit keyset with 1 mm of key travel. Trackpad: Precision glass trackpad. Trackpad size: 101 mm x 56 mm Supports a five-finger multitouch gesture.

Display	Alienware M17 R4	Surface Go 3
Size	17.3 Inches	10.5 Inches
Info	17.3” FHD with 144Hz 1920 x 1080 127 PPI 7ms response time 300 nits 16:9 72% NTSC NVIDIA G-SYNC Technology 600:1 contrast ratio Anti-glare WVA 17.3” FHD with 360Hz 1920 x 1080 127 PPI tms response time 300 nits 16:9 100% sRGB color gamut NVIDIA G-SYNC Technology 700:1 Anti-glare WVA 17.3” UHD with 60Hz 3840 x 2160 255 PPI 25ms response time 500 nits 16:9 100% Adobe RGB 1 200:1 contrast ratio 12W max Tobii Eyetracking technology WVA	Resolution: 1920 x 1280 (2.45M Pixels) Density: 220 PPI PixelSense™ Display Contrast ratio: 1500:1 Aspect ratio: 3:2 Inking: designed together with Surface Pen Touch: 10 points multi-touch Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3

Ports	Alienware M17 R4	Surface Go 3
Image Source: Dell 1 x Thunderbolt™ 3 Port Supports USB Type-C™ with support for USB 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps, 40Gbps Thunderbolt, and DisplayPort 1.2. 2 x Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 1 Port 1 x Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 1 port with PowerShare technology 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet port 1 x Alienware Graphics Amplifier Port 1 x HDMI 2.1 Supports up to 4K@120Hz display out. 1 x Mini-Display Port 1.4 (certified) Output Port 1 x Audio Out 1/8" Ports (Compatible with inline mic headset) 1 x Wedge-shaped lock slot (cable and lock sold separately) 1 x microSD 5.1, UHD-II HD312 Card Reader 1 x Power/DC-in Port	Image Source: Microsoft Right (3) 1 x USB-C USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), DisplayPort, Power Delivery 1 x Surface Connect Charging, Docking 1 x headphone jack Headphone/Microphone Bottom (1) 1 x Surface Go Type Cover Connector Under Kickstand (1) 1 x microSD card slot

Internal Specs	Alienware M17 R4	Surface Go 3
Processor	10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10870H 8 cores, 16 threads, 2.20 → 5.00 GHz, 16MB SmartCache, 45W 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-10980HK 8 cores, 16 threads, 2.40 → 5.30 GHz, 16MB SmartCache, 45W	10th Gen Intel® Pentium® Gold 6500Y 2 cores, 4 threads, 1.10 → 3.40 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 5W 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-10100Y 2 cores, 4 threads, 1.30 → 3.90 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 5W
Integrated Graphics	10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10870H Intel® UHD Graphics 630 24 Execution Units, 350 → 1200 MHz 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-10980HK Intel® UHD Graphics 630 24 Execution Units, 350 → 1250 MHz	10th Gen Intel® Pentium® Gold 6500Y Intel® UHD Graphics 615 23 Execution Units, 300 → 900 MHz 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-10100Y Intel® UHD Graphics 615 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1000 MHz
Memory	8 GB 16 GB 32 GB 2933 MHz Dual-channel DDR4 RAM.	4GB 8GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
Discrete Graphics	NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3000 series	-
Storage	Available Slots One M.2 2230 slot (Up to 512GB) Two M.2 2230/2280 slots (Up to 2TB each) Single Drive 256 GB PCIe M.2 SSD 512 GB PCIe M.2 SSD 1 TB PCIe M.2 SSD 2 TB PCIe M.2 SSD RAID-0 512GB (2x256 PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0 1TB (2x 512 PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0 2TB (2x 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0 4TB (2x 2TB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0 RAID-0 Plus 1TB (2x 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0 [Boot] + 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD [Storage] 2TB (2x 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0 [Boot] + 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD [Storage] 4TB (2x 2TB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0 [Boot] + 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD [Storage]	64GB eMMC 128GB SSD

Connectivity	Alienware M17 R4	Surface Go 3
Wi-Fi	Rivet Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650i Dual Band 2.4 GHz/5 GHz up to 2400 Mbps, WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax.	Wi-Fi 6: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible.
Bluetooth	Rivet Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650i › Bluetooth 5.1	Bluetooth Wireless 5.0 technology
Ethernet	Killer™ Ethernet E3100X PCI-e Gigabit ethernet controller Transfer rate: 10/100/1000/2500 Mbps	-
More	-	LTE version coming soon.

Battery	Alienware M17 R4	Surface Go 3
Size	86 WHr, 6-cell smart lithium-ion with Alienware Battery Defender	28Wh Nominal battery capacity. 26.8Wh Minimum battery capacity.
Battery Life	-	Up to 11 hours of typical device usage
Power Supply	240W power adapter 330W power adapter	24W proprietary Surface Connect power supply

Software	Alienware M17 R4	Surface Go 3
OS	Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Pro Upgradable to Windows 11	Windows 11 Home in S-mode
Built-in Apps	Alienware Command Center Supports AlienFX lighting, Game Library with auto-tune game profile functionality. Alienware Adrenalin Alienware Mobile Connect Microsoft Office 365 (30-day trial)	Xbox Game Pass Ultimate one month trial Microsoft 365 Family one month trial

Camera & Audio	Alienware M17 R4	Surface Go 3
Camera	Front-facing camera Alienware FHD (1920x1080 resolution) camera.	Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing) 5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p Skype HD video 8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p full HD video
Audio	Controller: Realtek ALC3281-CG 7.1 Digital Audio out using HDMI out connection Alienware Sound Center via Alienware Command Center Speakers: 2-Way (Woofer/Tweeter) Stereo Speaker Design Includes Discrete Smart Amp Woofer technology Microphone: Digital-array microphones in the camera assembly	Enhanced dual far-field Studio Mics 2W stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™

Misc	Alienware M17 R4	Surface Go 3
Inking	-	Supports Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP) 4096 levels of pressure Tilt sensing Best in class latency Paper feel magnetic storage
Sensors	Tobii Eyetracking technology (optional)	Ambient light sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer
Security	Wedge-shaped lock slot Trusted Protection Module	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
In the box	-	Surface Go 3 Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents
Warranty	-	One-year limited hardware warranty
More	CHASIS Based on Alienware's Legend industrial design language Engineered with Alienware's Advanced Cryo-Tech Cooling technology Engineered with HyperEfficient Voltage Regulation Constructed with a Magnesium Alloy exterior shell and copper alloy thermal components	Mechanical features: Signature unibody magnesium design with hidden perimeter venting Kickstand with a full-friction multiposition hinge to 165 degrees Magnetic attach for keyboard fold stability Physical buttons: volumes, power Casing: Magnesium

Key Features	Alienware M17 R4	Surface Go 3
At Glance	Released in Early 2021 16:9 FHD 17.3” 1080p 360Hz Weight 5.51 lb 2.50 kg Up to Intel Core i9-10980HK 8C/16T, 2.40 → 5.30 GHz Geekbench 5 1,223 Single Core Geekbench 5 7,013 Multi-Core With integrated Intel® UHD Graphics 630 24 Execution Units, 350 → 1250 MHz Configurable up to 32GB 2933 MHz DDR4 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 8GB GDDR6	Released in Late 2021 3:2 FHD+ 10.5” 1280p 60Hz Weight 1.2 lb 0.54 kg Up to Intel Core i3-10100Y 2C/4T, 1.30 → 3.90 GHz Geekbench 5 799 Single Core Geekbench 5 1,570 Multi-Core With integrated Intel® UHD Graphics 615 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1000 MHz Configurable up to 8GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 Starting at $399 Gold 6500Y, 4GB, 64GB eMMC Supports Surface Pen 4096 Levels, Tilt sensing, Magnetic Storage. Up to 11 Hours Battery Life Built-in IR Camera For Face Unlock Optional 4G LTE Wi-Fi 6